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Hannibal Of Carthage
"Sosylos was a Greek freedman who lived with Hannibal. He wrote a record of the march across the Alps, but his account is lost. It served, however, as a main source for Polybius the Greek, who wrote about the Hannibalic war some forty-eight years after Cannae. And later still, almost two hundred years after that battle, Titus Livy wrote a history of the same events, using Polybius as a source. Livy differs from Polybius. And Polybius, before him, disagreed with Sosylos, for so he told us.
"The reader is pursuing here more than a brilliant general, more than a gallant soldier. he is pursuing a much rarer incarnation--a true patriot. This book is offered as a tribute to the courage of that patriot. it was without the taint, so seldom absent, of a personal ambition."
"The reader is pursuing here more than a brilliant general, more than a gallant soldier. he is pursuing a much rarer incarnation--a true patriot. This book is offered as a tribute to the courage of that patriot. it was without the taint, so seldom absent, of a personal ambition."
308 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1955
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 3, 2012
I read this book in 1974. I was nearly fourteen. It is one of the books that influenced my life, my thinking, and my writing in deep and significant ways. The truth is that when I read the book, I took it for granted, and I never listed it among the great books. But it stayed with me, and I could not imagine that there was anyone in the world who hadn't read it. I took the lessons it taught as a given, much as I assumed that everyone had read the Bible. I just didn't think it needed listing.
Up until recently, if people asked me what books were influential in my life, I would have answered Atlas Shrugged, The Scarlet Letter, A Tree Grow in Brooklyn, Franny and Zooey, Podkayne of Mars, The Former King, Watership Down. And when it came to authors besides those of the books listed above, I would also have added that I admired Rudyard Kipling and Sir Walter Scott and Henryk Sienkiewicz and Victor Hugo.
But what about Mary Dolan? It's such a common sounding name. I didn't even remember it. I didn't know or much care who wrote that book that brought me face-to-face with Hannibal. I didn't even remember the name of the book. I just knew it was a historical novel told by a Greek slave, Sosylos, who served under Hannibal. But this book was suffused with classical sources, and every dramatic scene that it painted came from an ancient report and from the fervid imagination of an author, who having read that musty old tome in the ancient language, could translate it into reality for the average reader of English.
I fell in love with Hannibal when I was a child reading this book. All the great virtues that one could search for in a man were embodied in him.
"It was Saguntum's fall that forced the issue between Rome and Carthage. And it was Rome, not Carthage that declared the war... This suited Hannibal. Had he not sworn to fight against the Romans? And there was Rome, poised on a shaky structure of unwilling tributaries, which had been independent cities not a lifetime since. Italy was by no means Roman, though it suffered Roman rule. Italy was Etruscan, Sabine, Bruttian; it was Gallic; it was Greek. These vanquished underlings would soon desert their masters if he gave them opportunity. Rome would come tumbling down, and Carthage would be safe. He wished to act at once, before a new Italian generation could arise, to look on freedom as an old man's dream, and Roman rule as an established fact. The General, for this conviction, bore the sharp attack of all appeasers in the government at Carthage. Among these was old Hanno, the abject pacifist, who nursed an everlasting hatred toward the house of Barca." (p.47)
There in a nutshell is the story, not only of the struggle between a brutish empire and a loose confederation of merchants, but also between the need for war in order to protect freedom, on the one hand, and the need to be free from the economic strictures of a state engaged in perpetual war. Hannibal was not fighting for empire. He was fighting against empire. He was fighting for the freedom of the Etruscans and Sabines, as well as that of Carthage. Yet so few people value their freedom. So it was this, at last, that vanquished the great hero, and not any Roman force.
Who understands this today? Mary Dolan understood. And she was such a self-effacing writer that she delivered the message without drawing attention to herself. That's why, despite the fact that none of my books could have been written had I not first read hers, I never thought to thank her until now.
Up until recently, if people asked me what books were influential in my life, I would have answered Atlas Shrugged, The Scarlet Letter, A Tree Grow in Brooklyn, Franny and Zooey, Podkayne of Mars, The Former King, Watership Down. And when it came to authors besides those of the books listed above, I would also have added that I admired Rudyard Kipling and Sir Walter Scott and Henryk Sienkiewicz and Victor Hugo.
But what about Mary Dolan? It's such a common sounding name. I didn't even remember it. I didn't know or much care who wrote that book that brought me face-to-face with Hannibal. I didn't even remember the name of the book. I just knew it was a historical novel told by a Greek slave, Sosylos, who served under Hannibal. But this book was suffused with classical sources, and every dramatic scene that it painted came from an ancient report and from the fervid imagination of an author, who having read that musty old tome in the ancient language, could translate it into reality for the average reader of English.
I fell in love with Hannibal when I was a child reading this book. All the great virtues that one could search for in a man were embodied in him.
"It was Saguntum's fall that forced the issue between Rome and Carthage. And it was Rome, not Carthage that declared the war... This suited Hannibal. Had he not sworn to fight against the Romans? And there was Rome, poised on a shaky structure of unwilling tributaries, which had been independent cities not a lifetime since. Italy was by no means Roman, though it suffered Roman rule. Italy was Etruscan, Sabine, Bruttian; it was Gallic; it was Greek. These vanquished underlings would soon desert their masters if he gave them opportunity. Rome would come tumbling down, and Carthage would be safe. He wished to act at once, before a new Italian generation could arise, to look on freedom as an old man's dream, and Roman rule as an established fact. The General, for this conviction, bore the sharp attack of all appeasers in the government at Carthage. Among these was old Hanno, the abject pacifist, who nursed an everlasting hatred toward the house of Barca." (p.47)
There in a nutshell is the story, not only of the struggle between a brutish empire and a loose confederation of merchants, but also between the need for war in order to protect freedom, on the one hand, and the need to be free from the economic strictures of a state engaged in perpetual war. Hannibal was not fighting for empire. He was fighting against empire. He was fighting for the freedom of the Etruscans and Sabines, as well as that of Carthage. Yet so few people value their freedom. So it was this, at last, that vanquished the great hero, and not any Roman force.
Who understands this today? Mary Dolan understood. And she was such a self-effacing writer that she delivered the message without drawing attention to herself. That's why, despite the fact that none of my books could have been written had I not first read hers, I never thought to thank her until now.
January 31, 2026
Se considera novela historica, muy bien estructurada grata de profundizar màs en el personaje central de esta parte de la historia, èl que hizo temblar a Roma, ya cuando lee uno a Posteguillo y toros ensayos entiende porque su campaign no termino en exito. Recomendable.
May 24, 2023
A dutiful sword and sandals adventure with a unique perspective. Focus on the human drama of Hannibal’s campaign rather than the battles themselves. Nothing groundbreaking but a thoroughly enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews